A loss of control
by SlytherinElektra
Summary: Loki comes back, and it turns out that the other had been in his mind all the time. How will the Avengers cope with a possibly innocent god of mischief? Brainwashed Loki with full cast of Avengers and added Sif and Darcy later chapters ;)
1. Chapter 1

Loki didn't really know why he was there, or what exactly he was doing. It was happening more and more often these days. The thin grip he'd had on himself was now lost, and he saw the things he was doing as if from a distance. As if it were someone else moving his body around, using his magic. But it couldn't be, could it? He was just having problems focusing, problems recognizing that yes, this was him and he was choosing to do these things. But then... why come to Midgard again? What was this plan and why was he performing it? Why couldn't he understand his won action? The blue staff was shining again, and he took it. Yes, leaving Asgard had been a good idea. Yes, this battle would be glorious.

He only needed to obey the voice. If it was his or someone else's, did it mater anymore?

* * *

They came together again, put all their differences, because Loki was back. Of course, things were tense and they weren't they same as they used to be but they knew how serious threat it was and they knew that they would need all their combined might to beat him. So there were some nasty looks, some sharp comments... But also some little hurried apologies and understanding. Some clearing the air before getting back to business.

And then it was time to get to work again. They knew very little of what was going on – just that there was some footage and evidence that Loki was in Lisbon and that he'd recruited a small army of guns for hire and was with them in a warehouse. Why? No idea. Just like they had no idea of what kind of weapons they had or what were their plans. Thor was still unreachable and this time even Miss Foster and Selvig were nowhere to be found. They could only contact Darcy Lewis and she was doing a masters and hadn't known anything about Jane (or Thor) in months.

So they were in the dark, because they didn't know what Loki could have brought from his world (or whatever world he'd been staying in) didn't know why he was back on earth, if it had something to with Asgard and Thor or not. All they knew was that there were roughly two hundred people with him and that they were probably up to something, something big.

So there they were, Steve, Tony, Natasha, Wanda, Scott and Vision all suited up and ready to strike in the middle of a Portuguese industrial centre. They easily got through the guards and got to the main room of the warehouse, were most of the people were meeting. There was something fishy about the whole thing, about how easy everything was being. Loki was better than this, smarter than this. What if it had been some sort of trap? What if they were exactly where he had wanted them and the plan was just to lure them and trap them?

They found him with his usual armor but longer hair and looking lankier and thinner, dark shadows under his eyes. He had in his hand a blue staff even bigger than the one he had last time, with strange markings all across and simple sharp blade-ish tip. He was talking to the crowd with intent and clear voice, threatening, powerful. But he didn't say anything when he saw the Avengers, didn't reply to Stark's sarcastic _long time no see_. Just set some of his people on them and prepared himself to fight.

Even if he looked a thinner and sicklier than before, Loki also seemed angrier than the last time that they met, more determined, more convinced of what was he was doing. And after they got through his first line of defense made of minions, he fought their attacks with skill and avidity, almost with urgency. As if he felt that losing wasn't a viable option, as if he could only win or perish. He started taking them down, with magical barriers, spells, illusions.

He managed to paralyze most of the Avengers, leaving only Vision to fight against him, and even Vision was having trouble keeping up, not being able to overpower Loki's blue staff. And then there was something that distracted them, a roar of thunder, a violent gust of wind and and Loki lost his focus, allowing Wanda to escape the paralyzing spell she was in and be able to pin Loki to the floor. Soon the rest of the Avengers were free too, and managed to restrain Loki take all the weapon from him and knock him out, for peace of him.

"Stop!" A grave voice said behind them. "Do not hurt him!"

It was Thor with an Asgardian warrior woman, and they looked at Loki anxiously.

"And why shouldn't we?"

"My brother is being controlled by a force from another realm. He's not himself, none of these... have been his choice."

"Not this shit again." Tony muttered under his breath.

"Do you know how to unmake the control?" Steve asked Thor.

"Maybe our cognitive recalibration has been enough." Natasha interjected, looking at the unconscious Loki.

"I fear it won't be so easy. The other has preyed on Loki's mind for years, has infected every bit of him. His grip on my brother is too tight for a simple blow to unmake it."

"Years...?" Steve didn't like where this was going.

Loki was waking up, which meant they haven't much more time to speak, so Thor hurried.

"Sif and myself have found a spell that could free my brother's mind from that poisonous influence, but it would not work unless it was performed by someone with magic. In our mouths, these are but empty words."

"So, should I be calling David Copperfield?" Tony mentioned.

"If I may" Scott interjected, being at full size again. "I'm no expert but what... Wanda, where you? Yeah, what Wanda does looks an awful lot like like magic, maybe she could give a try? I f you want, of course."

"Yes, and even if it doesn't work, she could use her mental abilities to keep Loki asleep or relatively calm while we find someone who can perform the spell. What do you say, Wanda? Are you feeling up to it?"

"Whatever helps us win this fight."

The Asgardian lady was doubtful.

"Can we trust her, Thor?"

"If my friends say she is worthy of trust, then I trust her." Thor said, and then approached Wanda. "But please do be careful. My brother is still under there somewhere, I would loathe to lose him forever."

Wanda nodded. It was a lot of responsibility but she was up to the challenge. If by doing this she could prevent whatever Loki had been planning maybe it would help her clear her record, make up for past mistakes. Thor and Sif explained how to cast the spell, while Loki's eyes fully opened and he started fighting his restraints. It was a really delicate process but Wanda could handle delicate and could handle powerful.

And so she started chanting and waving her hands like Thor had instructed and it was clearly having an effect on Loki. His green eyes shifted to blue and then started glowing, much like Clint's had while he was under Loki's control on the invasion. Loki thrashed and screamed, something feral in his eyes, and his staff started glowing too. Wanda continued chanting and Loki screamed, clawing at his head and falling to his knees, and there was something that was not him that wanted that little sorceress to stop but she wouldn't, she wouldn't and it hurt, it hurt so much.

Wanda's voice got louder and Loki's screams did too, and suddenly it was over, she put her hand on his forehead and instructed and the screaming stopped. The blue staff lost all its colour, became a limp metal stick and then disintegrated into ashes. Loki looked at her and his eyes were bleeding red tears crossing his face, eyes green again, and doubtful.

"How... Who?..."

Thor ran to him and sat on his knees, and embraced Loki's frail body.

"Brother? Is it really you again?"

"Not... really... your brother... you oaf..."

Loki went limp in his brother's arms and there was a lump on the thunderer's throat.

"Midgardian friends...I do believe I owe you an explanation."

A/N: You know you want to review and tell me thingssss!


	2. Chapter 2

Loki was sedated and put in one of the beds of the luxurious med bay in the Avengers facility. It hurt Thor to see his brother being manhandled and restrained like that, but he understood. The last his friends had seen of Loki had been when he'd been wreaking havoc with his Chitauri army, nearly breaking New York in half and killing so many people. Thor had been so angry with his brother then, so disappointed... But then everything changed.

Thor and Sif saw everything under a different light now – all that destruction, all that hatred, all those fights... It hadn't really been Loki, not in the ways that counted. Thor should have realised something was off with the New York plan, it had too many faults, it was too public and had too many loose ends. The Loki he knew was much sneakier, more convoluted, and didn't leave things to change or relied on strength. The Loki he knew wouldn't have been tricked so easily, he wouldn't have let one of his minions know about a kill switch or even tolerated the presence of one, that could make the whole plan come undone.

But after his stunt on the Bifrost he'd been ready to believe the worst of his brother, and except a few details everything had been quite Loki-like. Maybe it had been his friends and other knights, who after centuries mocking Loki and calling him weak his opinion of his brother had been slightly distorted. But his Midgardian friends hadn't known the Loki from Thor's youth, had only seen that corrupted version of Loki – the one that sought only chaos and power.  
And so Thor and Sif started telling the tale of how they found out something was wrong with Loki.

We first became suspicious when Loki his place on the throne, where he was impersonating our father and ruler of Asgard, Odin. He had everything he had ever wanted, power, respect, the love of Loki, people who listened and obeyed him... Why would he leave? It made no sense to forfeit all that power unless he planned a bigger conquest." Thor begin, readying himself to tell the lengthy tale.

"We started investigating and Heimdall, our all-watcher, told us that Loki had been spending some time in some parts of the Void, the place where he fell when he first... Well, a place where he'd spent some quite horrible times. So why go back?"

Sif continued.

"We needed to know more of his deals but couldn't reach the Void, as it is almost impossible to reach. We managed to find a rogue Chitauri warrior that was able to give us some information in exchange for protection. It told us about their leader on Midgard conquest, the other, and how he'd had magical help to bend the will of his conflictive ally, Loki, and make him trustworthy. After a fashion, they enchanted the blue staff to increase its ability to modify people's wills and thrust it on his chest, close to his heart and something blue spread inside him. Loki still has the scar, you can see it."

They instructed one of the nurses who did indeed show a big scar on Loki's chest. It somehow made everything more real, more true.

"This way his decisions would become more and more complacent with the Other's interests as time passed. This wasn't a clear influence like Barton's in new York, it was more gradual but longer lasting because of the enchantment in its origin that was still inside of him, feeding on his life force and magic. Something that couldn't be undone by a simple blow. We went to speak with the Enchantress who knows more about magic than we ever could. Amora told us about an ancient soul binding spell that took overtook even the deadliest foe."

"As it is probably happening to you, I didn't want to believe a single word about Loki's innocence. I wanted to think it a trick, tried to convince Thor that it was all an elaborate ruse to get back in our grades. But then we manage to find Loki and Amora tried a spell that temporarily cancelled the should binding. Loki whole posture changed and he asked us to kill him, because he couldn't he couldn't life the control."

"And this Enchantress couldn't lift the control herself?"

"Loki left for here, and Amora didn't want to help us any further. Which was unfortunate since she understood the nature of the spell and Loki's much better than we could."

"We spoke to Selvig too and to some other people that worked with him in his court people from his time as pretend-king. They told us about Loki's odd behavior, how sometimes his eyes would change and he would ask for help, look confused. I brought some footage that Erik kindly provided as evidence in this tiny device."

"It was a pen drive that Tony quickly put up in one of the many screens of the compound. They saw a video from a security camera across the street, so it wasn't the best quality but it was him. He was giving orders to one of his sticked soldiers when suddenly his whole demeanor changed, he grabbed the arm of the man with pleading eyes and whispered something. There was no audio but it was quite clear he was saying help. A second later, he dismissed the man's confusion and continued giving orders as normal.

"In another of the cuts, Loki was leading a march when he put his hands in his head and started screaming for no apparent, a expression of pain in his face. The episode didn't last long either, there was another blue flash in his eyes and he went back to his villainous self. It was creepy to say the least.

"Because the influence on Loki was made with a spell and not with the gem it was a radically different, more subtle and we all missed it until that poisonous influence flooded all corners of Loki's being. Of course, we don't know if he would have been as malicious or even more had he been in his right mind, but we know that he cannot be punished for those crimes."

"Which are... what? Everything since he came to Earth?"

"Everything since he fell from the Bifrost, yes."

"He didn't fall, Sif, he threw himself." Thor muttered darkly, and then continued. "We should talk with him, assess the situation... Maybe you could perform some tests on him, see if it whole ordeal has left him with any side effects, any injuries..."

Wanda watched the trickster from the other side of the glass, marvelled. Breaking that spell had been quite the experience, and it felt as if she'd been embedded herself in there – she'd felt the connection in her very soul, as if she too was chained, imprisoned by that overwhelming blue mind- presence. And she'd felt him too, Loki, Thor's little brother, practically more magic than man. His presence was weakened, worn out by the other, more powerful existence inside him – but he was still there struggling to breathe, to be free. That tiny part of him that still resisted had welcomed Wanda's intervention.

"I want to help him." she said. "I will give an statement, whatever is necessary."

Tony sighed. They were in deep trouble again.

"Thor, buddy, look. We believe you, ok? We saw that light, we trust what Wanda felt but people will come for him, he is still a criminal, and your story will not be believed by many people. They maybe starting to believe in enhanced humans but magic? Soul binding spells? No one's going to buy that."

"Then it will be best if Loki's presence is kept quiet. If you want no part in this, friend Stark..."

No, no. I'll help you guys, I don't want there to be bad blood between us. But there will be many people, trained people coming to get him."

I just want my brother finally back... and safe... he's gone through so much already..."

"Don't worry, Thor. We're here for you." Steve said.

"Together." Sif added.

Thor wished Loki could see this, people from Asgard and Midgard joining to help him. Sure, they were mostly doing it for Thor, but... Loki had always lacked support from outside the family. Seeing people coming to his aid would surely help him heal.

But Loki was still unconscious, not wanting to wake up. The voices may be gone, but his masters were still out there. And they would be angry that he made it out alive. He shouldn't be alive. He knew too much - he was naught but a danger. They would come for him again and this time, he had outlived his use... All hell would break loose.

And Loki and the Avengers was right in the middle of it.

A/N: Sorry for the mix up! Here is properly formatted chapter :(


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